History of the Blue and Gold Tournament

History of the Blue and Gold Mixed League

The Blue and Gold Mixed League started back in 1994. At the time Pat Cowley was the Lady Captain in Monkstown and Kevin Polley was Men’s Captain. Natalie Counahan was Lady Captain in Sandycove Tennis Club and had the idea of starting a Mixed League. She and Pat Cowley had been in the same class in school in the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roscrea. So Natalie put her idea to Pat and so this much-loved Mixed League got underway.

Format

As with most things, it has evolved and changed a bit over time. It was known as ‘The Friday Friendly’ for many years. The main idea and format is still the same. There were 6 clubs involved at the beginning. There were two Sections with 6 teams in each. Each club entered two teams, one called Blue and one called Gold. This led to simplicity. For example, the Monkstown Blue team played the Sandycove Blue team ‘At Home’ at the same time as the Monkstown Gold team played the Sandycove Gold team ‘Away’. A Final was held between the best team from each Section.

Each team consisted of 3 pairs of different standards. Today we have 4 pairs on each team.

Blue and Gold. Why?

The idea for calling the teams Blue and Gold was because these were the school colours of the Sacred Heart Convent in Roscrea. Every student was either a Blue or a Gold.

Clubs involved

Some clubs have dropped out and others have joined in. The criteria was that clubs must be fairly near each other. Clubs that have been, or are, involved are: